Brian Gongol
Musings on the notion of a company town
There aren't many actual "company towns" still around today, since there are few benefits to be gained from trying to provide 24-hour care and service for a working population anymore. But Google's long list of on-the-job benefits and perks sound a lot like a modern echo of those company towns, and the rise of colossal retirement communities offers a counterpart in the post-working world. Some people think that our conventional notions of government roles and private-sector roles are bound to become blurred in an increasingly complex world. And there's some reason to believe that many people would be happy to turn over lots of little nuisances in life if they thought they could get an all-inclusive deal from someone else -- just like an ocean cruise or an all-inclusive resort, but one in which they might live 365 days a year. But just like defined-benefit pension programs, many of which have fallen apart, leaving beneficiaries with far less income than they were promised, the idea of an all-inclusive community (or a benevolent employer offering perks aplenty) ought to be held in deep suspicion.
Steampunk: A very curious movement
Participants try to create expressions of what they think the world might've looked like had the people of the Victorian era had access to some (but not all) of today's technologies. It's a bit like an alternate-universe version of science fiction. A little time spent playing around with such hypotheticals is fine, as long as people spend a reasonable amount of time looking to the future of today's technology and considering the ramifications of the changes all about.
Microsoft releases out-of-schedule security update
It fixes problems with Internet Explorer, versions 6, 7, and 8
People don't always seem to be aware of their own irony
Like the Twitter update that reads, "I will finish Satanic Verses before I sleep, so help me God!"
Epic flooding in Rhode Island
